STUDIO Z BlogA PROJECT OF ZEITGEIST NEW MUSIC

Guest blogger and first-time listener Nathan Christensen offers his account of Zeitgeist's presentation of Stockhausen's "Mikrophonie" at the January 20th Lowertown Listening Session at Studio Z.

After attending what was not only my first Lowertown Listening Session, but also my first Zeitgeist concert, I have to say I was completely blown away. Admittedly, I was a bit apprehensive, as I didn’t know what to expect. However, over the course of the night, I came to find that this concert series is so much more than just a concert. Part performance, part discussion, the Lowertown Listening Sessions proved to be a way to expand your musical knowledge in a fun, relaxed environment.

The piece of music and discussion topic for the night was Karlheinz Stockhausen’s Mikrophonie I. For those unfamiliar with the work like I was, it should be noted that it is a unique piece. It’s written for four percussionists playing a single tam-tam with various items, and using microphones to pick up and amplify the sounds heard just a few inches away from the tam-tam. There are also two sound board operators, who take the signal from the microphones and run it through high and low pass filters to help pull out certain sounds.Stockhausen’s Mikrophonie I is an extremely complex piece, both to perform and understand. One has to have an open mind when listening to the music. This is where the Lowertown Listening Sessions come into play. They act as a stepping-stone, gently exposing patrons to music that they may have never heard before. Had I not been there, I probably wouldn’t know of Stockhausen. And if I did, his music may have seemed intimidating. That is where the listening session format thrives. The performers are there not just to perform, but to make the music accessible to everyone.

What struck me most about the evening was how open it was. From the start, the audience was brought to the same level as the musicians we came to see. In between selections, the performers fielded questions and comments from the audience. At one point, they invited the audience to come take a closer look as they performed a selection, and as the night winded down they invited us to come experiment with some of the equipment used on the tam-tam. The first four Lowertown Listening Sessions are all focused on Stockhausen, leading up to Zeitgeist’s Early Music Festival in April, which is a four-day festival of Stockhausen’s music. These sessions help audiences better understand his music, and can get people prepped for the festival. With open-floor discussion and top-notch performers, they seem to be doing their job wonderfully. --Nathan Christensen

Photos by Jack Flynn

Zeitgeist's next Lowertown Listening Session will be a performance and informal discussion on Karlheinz Stockhausen's Gesang der Jünglinge, a work that integrates human voice and electronic sounds in a setting of text from The Book of Daniel. Feb. 12th, 5:30 p.m. at Studio Z • Tickets